The attack on a three-year-old boy, Sk. Arshad, in the forest near Yerragondapalem in Prakasam district by a wild boar on Saturday once again brought to the fore the intensity of human-animal conflict.
The incident came close on the heels of reported straying of wild cats into the tribal hamlet of Satuthanda near Dornala in Markapur division last week. While wild boars are multiplying in the wake of the dwindling number of predators, farmers are encroaching upon their natural habitat by growing crops on the foothills forcing them to stray into human habitations.
The attack was not an isolated one as a 60-year-old Chenchu tribal Naganna was mauled to death by a bear near Chinabodu, 30 km from Yerragondapalem in October 2013 and another 45-year-old tribal A. Musalaiah was seriously injured in an attack by a pair of bears near Garepentagudem in Pullalachervu mandal in June 2012. Farmers in the villages close to Yerragondapalem live in constant fear of big cats after spotting movement of leopards at Ganjivaripalli in June last year.
“With most of the farms situated on Nallamalla foothills, it is not unusual for the wild animals, like wild boars and bears to come down in search of food and damage maize, groundnut and other crops”, Markapur Divisional Forest Officer D. Jayachandra Reddy told The Hindu .
“We are educating the farmers on ways to ward off wild animals without using electric fences as they are a threat to cattle and farmers themselves,” Mr. Reddy says.
